My Memex

About

Created by a victim of associational thinking. A grab-bag of my favorite topics: Internet studies, literary theory, social implications of computing, the triumphs and frustrations of a humanities-type who can't leave computers alone.
Vannevar Bush had some cool ideas.

Saturday, November 15, 2003

A Gripe

I wrote in an earlier post about how I was annoyed with AT&T Wireless. Well, it's eleven days later, and AT&T is still upgrading their systems "to better serve you. Please call again tomorrow, when our systems will be fully operational." For several days this week, they even got rid of the "call tomorrow" message and just had a terse, brief message saying that the services I needed could not be processed now. On Wednesday I was guaranteed that the system would be operational by the next morning. Thursday morning I was greeted by the same terse message.

Even better, and even more infuriating, is how AT&T handled my customer service complaint. I finally emailed customer service and told them how unhappy I was, and that my contract was expiring shortly, and that perhaps I would just take my business and Eric's elsewhere: he's still within the first thirty days of his contract, and so can cancel without penalty. Well, AT&T very nicely credited my entire monthly service fee for the last month - without me requesting such an action, and without notifying me. They also extended my contract through October of 2004, again, without asking me or informing me. I actually only found out about this because I called to see why my account balance was a wacky and low $6.00. Now, while I appreciate the service credit, I didn't ask for it, and I certainly didn't want my contract extended - especially as I was thinking about switching providers. My contract was supposed to run out on December 31, so I could have gotten new service then, or even before and just double up on payments for a few months. Now, however, I am stuck with AT&T, unless I want to pay their outrageous early termination fee. I really think this is deceptive and feel that I have been taken advantage of. Perhaps after I work off a bit of steam, I'll call back and complain, again.

And one of these days, I might actually get my phone service straightened out. With the already-two-week-long delay, however, I won't be holding my breath.

Friday, November 14, 2003

Now this seems like a wise move on the part of the university: want to keep students from violating copyright and from getting on administative nerves? Roll the cost of an institutional subscription into student fees and let all students have access to Napster.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Hey, it's Friday here, so I'll get a jump-start on the weekend before going to bed.

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.Cluttered
2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.Institutional, bureaucratic (I "work" for a university - not easy to describe in this manner).
3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.Informative, distracting, technological.
4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.Hectic, enjoyable, sedentary, unstructured.
5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.Peaceful, warm, intellectual, full, and stable.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Despair, Inc. is the place for you if you're highly annoyed by motivational posters and other chipper corporate paraphernalia. Somehow, I got on their mailing list. Eric and I had a good laugh about the products. He subsequently took the catalog to work. It will make at least a few holiday gift lists in his lab this year.

Yawn

Just thought I would take this moment to reinforce the fact that I truly dislike mornings. With great passion. Especially when I'm roused from bed by a delivery person. Must go get ready for class now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

2 Years blogging (as of yesterday), and finally . . .

1. The most important thing about me is that there is no one most important thing about me. There are a bunch of more important things, but no one thing that really defines me as a person.

2. I have a few obsessions: yellow duckies, sparkly things, and They Might Be Giants. I also really dig Mary Prankster, and wish I'd seen her in concert more times.

3. I have five tattoos. I got them all between the ages of 18 and 21. They are all in locations that allow me to hide them pretty easily.

4. On the other hand, I couldn't find a wedding dress that hid all of them.

5. I would have more tattoos, but my father found out about all five at once and made me promise not to get more.

6. Even now that I am "older," I still stand by my decision to get each one: they all are meaningful to me and I think they're beautiful. This is infinitely more important than the opinions of anyone else.

7. I think my best feature is my eyes: they are green, though they were blue when I was younger, and went through a weird, constantly changing period during my adolescence.

8. My least favorite feature is my hair. My dad's side of the family is full of redheads, and I grew up envying the pretty, red curls they all had. In fact, I colored my hair red for several years.

9. Then I cut all of my hair off and dyed it black. And hated it. And have not permanently colored my hair since.

10. It took approximately two years for me to grow it all out.

11. My family is odd. Weird, emotionally tweaked, sometimes unstable, usually prone to anxiety, and odd. Did I mention odd? But on the whole they're good people, and I love them.

12. I love plants, but I can never remember to water them. I've killed so many plants that last time I suggested bringing something green and living home, I was promptly pointed in the direction of the "cactus arrangements" by my husband. Good call!

13. I hate cold weather. I am always colder than most people around me - combination of inherited poor circulation and low blood pressure - oh, and the fact that I smoke.

14. I hate being a smoker.

15. I was an adamant, one might even say obnoxious, non-smoker until I was 18. Then I rebelled, and consciously made the decision to start lighting dried leaves on fire and inhaling the highly addictive smoke to piss off members of my family. Brilliant, yes? (this was about the same time as the tattoos - see # 3 - and about the same time as the move - see # 18).

16. I have quit, or tried to quit, more times than I'd like to think about.

17. I'm going to try again soon, maybe new-year-ish.

18. About the same time as the rebellious tattoos and smoking began, I picked up and moved to New York City with my best friend, Lindsay (then age 17).

19. We arrived with no friends or connections in the city, with no job prospects, and with a grand total of nine bags (including bedroll-type things) between us.

20. While in New York, I went door-to-door as a canvasser (fundraiser) for Greenpeace. Greenpeace was the only place willing to hire an 18-year-old kid fresh out of high school with no appreciable skills.

21. I worked with a bunch of really cool people at Greenpeace in New York, D.C., and L.A. before freaking out about office politics and quitting. I was there, in total, almost a year.

22. I only lived in NYC for about six months, but it was one of the truly defining experiences in my life, and I know that, had Lindsay and I not gone through with the plan to move to Manhattan, I would be an entirely different person.

23. Along with moving to New York, the most influential event in my life was meeting my husband, Eric. I was 19 and he was 20 when we first met. We dated for just over four years before getting married. Pardon the sappiness, but he is the love of my life and my best friend, and after seven and a half years together, I feel I can say that with confidence.

24. I'm a bit of a "cause-head": not only did I work for Greenpeace for a year, but I also was involved with Amnesty International and a graduate student unionization movement. This summer I took another turn at canvassing, but for the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group.

25. I also recently volunteered at the MS Challenge Walk.

26. I volunteered for the walk because my mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was in elementary school.

27. She is also a breast cancer survivor.

28. Having a disabled parent makes for a weird growing-up.

29. Even weirder, I shared a bedroom with my mom when I was a senior in high school.

30. It wasn't as bad as you think!

31. I'm really good at putting more thought into things than necessary. Hence the type of list I've put together so far, and the reason why it took me months to actually complete this list.

32. I have really tiny bones: my ring finger is between a 4 and a 4 1/2. My pinky finger is small enough to fit into baby jewelry.

33. I have tall-person envy: I wish I could reach the top shelf of cupboards and change lightbulbs without needing a step-stool.

34. Alternately, I wouldn't mind being shorter than I am.

35. I am very forgetful. I have an organizer and a calendar to help me remember things, but I forget to use them.

36. I am also a procrastinator. Bad combination.

37. The mitigating factor is that I am a very hard worker, and have been known to work on projects for absolutely excessive lengths of time at a stretch.

38. Before I wanted to be a professor, I wanted to be a host of other, completely unrelated things: an actress, an appellate court attorney, and an occupational therapist or physical therapist, for example.

39. I am an absolute geek.

40. I own too many books. I've read most of them, but the "to read" pile is still pretty sizeable.

41. I am obsessed with technology.

42. I have a very bad habit of giving cats distinguished names. They then proceed to mature into undignified beasts. My next cat will be named something totally undignified.

43. I am definitely more of a cat person than a dog person.

44. I am not religious.

45. I am spiritual.

46. I don't see the two statements above as being at all contradictory.

47. I am a feminist, and proud of it.

48. I'm not sure how I emerged from such a conservative family with such liberal/progressive/radical (depending on the issue and point in my life we're talking about) views.

49. Eric and I are both children of men in law enforcement.

50. We're therefore not frightened by representatives of the law, but we are very polite to them.

51. I am an optimist about most things. I really believe that things will generally work out for the best.

52. I love Triscuits. A lot.

53. One of my least favorite words is "adventure."

54. This is because, as a kid, my mom always claimed that any challenge was an "adventure." To this day, it can still make my sister and me groan in unison.

55. One of my other least favorite words is the "c-word" that is common slang for a part of the female anatomy. Not for prudish reasons: I think it sounds harsh, grating, and ugly. It's not a word I embrace.

56. I have definite favorite and least favorite words. Probably because I love language, and read dictionaries as a kid.

57. I own the full version of the Oxford English Dictionary. It was the best gift I have ever received: my dad got it for me for a Christmas/birthday/graduation gift one year. It was on sale at a bookstore, and when I saw it, I realized that my lifelong goal of owning the OED before I died could occur sooner rather than later.

58. I love fairy tales and folk tales.

59. I don't like the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, and generally don't like the "adaptations" of fairy tales collected or written by Andrew Lang and Victorian era writers.

60. I think that Robin McKinley writes some of the best fairy tale adaptations. I love her female characters in all of her works.

61. I own a book called Grimm Tales Made Gay, by Guy Wentmore Carryl. It was published in 1902, and is generally highly amusing.

62. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on fairy tales.

63. I decided not to pursue further studies in the area of fairy tale and children's literature because, from what I understand, the job prospects are pretty abysmal.

64. I can play Magic the Gathering. Eric thought I should point this out. See reference to geekhood above.

65. I am on the phone with Eric right now. He's helping me with the list.

92. I enjoy nice writing instruments. The Levenger catalog is a true temptation for me.

93. Even though I am a grad student, and therefore broke, I am trying to collect Levenger True Writer pens.

94. I lived in California in junior high and high school, and spent vacations there in elementary school, and yet, I never made it further south than San Diego.

95. I can make a mean cheese fondue.

96. This is because I worked at a Melting Pot fondue restaurant for two years.

97. I started out waiting tables there, but also hosted and bartended.

98. This means I can also make many mixed and blended/frozen drinks.

99. When I was two or three, my dad grabbed me off the slide at the park one day. I very seriously wagged my finger at him and somberly informed him, "that could be very dangerous." He thought it was hilarious.

100. I don't like soda or other sweetened drinks. I love unsweetened iced tea and fruit juices.

101. I have dissected two fetal pigs, one each semester in a high school anatomy and physiology class. The first semester pig was green.

102. I can be really sentimental, and cry at cheesy movies/TV shows frequently.

103. I came up with a list! And didn't succede in posting it when I said I would. It'ls late, but so am I, generally, so it's appropriate, I guess.

If you were a high school student and kept a blog, do you think the administration would have grounds for taking action on things you posted on your own computer in your own home on your own site? Well, take a look at this: reviewjournal.com -- News: INTERNET DIARIES: School discipline questioned. This poor kid not only got called into the dean's office, an in-school suspension, and a mandatory parent-teacher conference, but ended up getting transferred to another school: during disciplinary actions, it was discovered that he was zoned to go to another school. Another student was also called in at about the same time for entries that she had written in her online journal. Here's an interesting snippet:

Juhl and Scaduto both wonder how school officials got their journals in the first place: The firewalls used on Valley's computers block access to their Web sites.

Both think a fellow student turned in the entries. They also think they were disciplined before any administrator had read their complete journal entries, which would have given the proper context to the sentences that got them into trouble.

The state ACLU questions the grounds of these inquiries. Also interesting to note is that the first student published under a pseudonym.

Friday, November 07, 2003

1. What food do you like that most people hate?
Spinach, artichokes, and asparagus, which was a lot weirder when I was a kid.

2. What food do you hate that most people love?
pizza sauce: I hate tomato sauces on pizzas and sandwiches, and really only like my mother-in-law's and my homemade spaghetti sauces. And onions and mayo. Ok, there's a list about a mile long of foods I don't like.

3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you?
Kind of a toughie: I'll say Arnold. A lot of people think he's attractive, but his politics and history definitely make him unappealing. Oh, thought of another: Jennifer Lopez.

4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find
attractive?
I don't know. Famous people tend to be attractive these days - tends to be one of the reasons they're famous. Also, I've got some interesting criteria for determining attractiveness. Personality plays a big part, and it's way more likely with famous people and celebs that their personalities are turn-offs rather than turn-ons.

5. What popular trend baffles you?
Take your pick from teen culture - there's a lot of trendy things I don't get.

This Fool.com asks: "Is Apple scared of Napster?" The answer is that it seems so - Apple recently issued a press release pointing out that they sold more music than the reformed file-sharing service in its first week of legitimate, pay-based operation. This article points out that there's no need to give Napster any free publicity: Apple has 80% market share, even with Napster in operation, and they have a solid reputation. Napster's got two-year-old name recognition for free music and RIAA lawsuits. Basically: Motley Fool -> Napster: "Chill out!"

Anniversary the Second

Four days from now, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, I will have been blogging for two years. In celebration/recognition, I'm going to actually frickin' post my "100 things" list. I've been working on one for months, seriously, but never quite get it to where it's publishable. Tuesday it'll go up, regardless, so I'd better get it into a publishable format!

Dentistry Scares Me

I went to the dentist yesterday for the first time in, oh, three or four years. I really don't like going to the dentist (I don't really think anyone does), but that's not why I have avoided the dentist's office for so long. Nope, I just haven't had dental coverage.

I have a pretty poor track record/family record for oral health and happiness. Before I'd graduated from high school, I had accumulated a few fillings and one crown. I'd had teeth extracted, wisdom teeth extracted, and had a root canal - which didn't fix the problem, and had to be followed up with oral surgery. My entire family clenches and grinds their teeth at night, and we've more or less all been prescribed night guards. My mother and aunt have been seeing a periodontist for longer than I've been alive.

So perhaps you can see why I was nervous about returning to a dentist's office after three or four years off. I was convinced that I'd have cavities in every tooth, need a few root canals, and be referred to a periodontist, myself.

What ended up happening, then, was amazing: after taking and developing 20 x-rays, the dental technician returned, clipped them up, flipped the switch, and lit them up. I spent the next ten minutes looking in horror at the pictures, getting more and more nervous as I waited for the dentist. He eventually walked into the exam room, looked at the x-rays, and briefly looked inside my mouth. He then pronounced that I had one really big cavity in an upper right molar, but everything else looked pretty good.

WHAT??? Yippee!

While I was celebrating silently in my head, I got the usual lecture about flossing more, proper brushing technique, why I didn't really need a night guard, and how cleanings every six months can truly benefit oral health. Yeah, yeah. I know all this.

It just so happened that they had a cancellation just as I was getting done with my appointment (which was really intended only to be an initial consultation), so I got to get my teeth cleaned yesterday, as well, saving me a trip to the dentist's office. So, next Friday I go in to deal with the cavity. Keep your fingers crossed, please, that a simple filling will take care of it, and that I don't need a root canal or a crown.

I'm so glad I got the first trip out of the way, and happy that it went so well.

Thursday, November 06, 2003

BBC NEWS has a pretty good Q+A on partial-birth abortion and the recent (yesterday) U.S. ban - coverage of which isn't exactly topping the headlines today. I'd kind of expected a bit more. The story doesn't even show on Google News's radar, at least the few times I've checked since hearing about the issue on the evening news last night.

The N.Y. Times (registration) does offer a front-page (elecrtonic, anyway) piece on the issue: general coverage with a focus on incrementalism in the anti-abortion movement. This is exactly what makes me fearful, and angry at anti-abortion activists. Look, I fully acknowledge that every person has a right to an individual opinion, and freedom of speech is something I hold dear, so I have no issue with the expressing of anti-abortion viewpoints. I don't agree, but I wouldn't intentionally silence anyone.

BUT I also value the freedom to control my own body. What happens within my skin should be subject to my own decision-making, my own values, my own cosiderations of my health and well-being.

The topic of partial-birth abortion, as the BBC Q+A states, is a touchy one for a lot of people, and it is for me, too. But that is not the point. The point is that this legislation sets precedent for limiting a woman's control over and access to her own body. And that is unconscionable. The law does not, from my understanding, have a clause regarding exceptions in cases of medical necessity. That is unthinkable - and has already been reason enough for the courts to strike down previous legislation.

What the hell is happening in this country? Faith-based programs get government funding, women's rights get rolled back, we get embroiled in a very messy - and dangerous, and morally questionable - situation in Iraq. Legislation and policy erodes our personal freedoms and our right to privacy. People all over the world raise concerns about human rights abuses in Guantanamo Bay(Google News).

One of the saddest thinga about this, I think, is that we're now in a space, socially, where questioning, protesting, and challenging is seen by many as unpatriotic. You know, I like this country. I question a lot of its historical and current actions, but that does not mean I'm ready to up and move. It doesn't amke me an anti-American American. Nope. Quite the contrary. I think quite a bit about the responsibility of a citizen in a free democratic system (ok, argue among yourselves about whether or not that's actually what we have) . It is responsible to engage, whether in agreement or dissent, with the ideas and policies of those in power.

Is freedom still freedom if there's no dissent, no expression of alternative voices?

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Referrer Log Report

I'm number 6 for the terms, "jesus snags tags" on Yahoo! Search. What?

I also have had a number of queries phrased as full questions - questions that look like they could be freshman composition paper topics . . . sorry, guys, very little here in the way of references for evaluation papers.

. . . and the content industry gains more control, and media players/TVa become more expensive, and consumers lose decision-making power, and a program decides what is and is not "indiscriminant" broadcasting of a copy, and fair use gets struck another blow, and the DMCA anti-circumvention clause means . . . well, you know the story by now.

But wiat! There's (somewhat) good news . . .

A small victory for consumers, say consumer groups, is that the FCC rule does allow fair use of copyrighted content. Two commissioners dissented in part from the ruling, urging a fair use provision be included. However, how it will be implemented is not clear. Consumers can legally transmit copies of videos between home networks and their home and workplace offices, although the rule does not address details of how this might work, or how many copies are allowed.

The same critics credit the FCC for not letting movie studios dictate the copy-protection technology. The MPAA wanted the rule to take effect next summer, rather than the July 2005 deadline set by the FCC.

Some technology vendors are also breathing a sigh of relief that the FCC does not favor a single copy-protection technology. Several firms, notably Philips Electronics, expressed such concern when the rule was under consideration. The FCC has promised an open certification process for the copy-protection technologies.

So, perhaps the picture is not as bleak as it could be, but there are still some serious issues with this FCC ruling. *sigh*

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Say, "aaaaah"

Sorry for being so scarce lately. I've been sick since early last week, but as of last Thursday, I went into hibernation for several days. I was trying to give the immune system a rest and hopefully kick whatever bug I had - but guess what? It kicked me back. After feeling briefly better Saturday and Sunday, I began to feel genuinely crappy again last night. And I'm now running yet another low-grade fever. I hate to admit it, but perhaps it's time to take advantage of the nice health insurance U MN gives us grad students, time to go to the doctor, and perhaps even get some antibiotics - and I hate taking antibiotics.

In other news, the clerical union here has reached a tentative agreement with university administrators. I am curious to learn the details of the new contract: who budged how much on what issues? That information has yet to be released, though. It will be nice to have things go back to normal at the U, and good to have clerical workers back inside buildings instead of shivering on picket lines.

Finally, AT&T Wireless is on the short version of my **it list right now (you go ahead and interpret: it's not the "IT!" list, I'll tell you that much). They've been updating . . . their systems . . . for four, almost five days now. Every day, each time I call, I am told to call back at X o'clock, a few hours down the line - and inevitably, the systems are still updating. I am a grumpy customer. And I want free stuff (namely, to _not_ pay for my upgrade phone: hey, I just got them a new customer, and new customers get better deals than loyal return customers. I want the same phone choices at the same prices as a new customer, dammit, especially after five days' worth of being on hold and getting jerked around!). I'll let you all know how the crusade for free stuff goes.

Yeah, one of the reasons I hate running a fever. I get bitchy. And wow - entitlement? Perhaps I need a tea and some more aspirin.